


birds in the sunrise

by To_rhyen_2207



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24365908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/To_rhyen_2207/pseuds/To_rhyen_2207
Summary: Collection of one-shots/short chapters mainly following canon pairings!
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Kudos: 24





	birds in the sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> Catra left in the middle of the night, away from the glowing rune on Adora's chest, away from the sharp throb of her heart and away from what that all meant. But since when do things ever went her way? Right before she could leave it all behind, Adora sinks her fingers in her heart and pulls Catra back, refusing to let go this time...
> 
> Or what should have happened after that scene where Adora clutches Catra's bag to her heart as Catra walks away from her, invisible.

“CATRA!” Adora’s cry gripped her bleeding heart and twisted it, stopping her dead in her step. Still being cloaked by Melog, Catra whipped around, silently cursing at her inability to control herself around Adora.  _ Just this once.  _ There was no way Catra could leave Adora like that, kneeling on the grass, clutching for dear life onto the bag Catra had randomly grabbed on the way out, as if she could hold on to her that way. Adora’s eyes were void, face slackened in soul-deep exhaustion. Trembling, she held out her hand towards the direction Catra was heading away to, tears incessantly streaking down her face.  _ Fuck, fuck, _ **_fuck_ ** _.  _ she had broken her again. If it was in the past, Catra would have kept on walking away, hurting too much to even see. But now? Now every fibre of her being was screaming at her, screaming at her to run to Adora and hold her, tell her that she’s here and that everything will be okay. 

Catra’s so close, just a few more steps and she could grasp Adora’s waiting hand and-

“ADORA? Is everything okay?” Glimmer and Bow emerged from a distance, heading towards them. In a moment of panic, Catra slowed to a stop and just watched. Upon reaching Adora, they immediately scooped her into their arms, shooting another pang of lead into Catra’s heart. They exchanged a worried look over Adora, making the connection between the two empty beds and the backpack. 

“Oh, Adora...Come on, let’s get you to bed.” Glimmer gave Adora a weak smile and teleported them away, leaving Catra standing in the dark woods, invisible, alone.

~

Catra watched Adora crawl into her bed after Glimmer and Bow had fallen asleep. Perched on the boxes next to Adora, Catra listened to her breath fall into a steady rhythm after quietly sobbing into Catra’s pillow. Sighing, Catra hugged her legs to her chest and rested her head against Melog beside her.

“What am I going to do about her?” Melog only whimpered in response, nudging Catra towards Adora with its head. 

“You saw what happened. She doesn’t want me...not like I want her.” Catra spoke softly, her voice cracking. Licking her face, Melog gracefully jumped onto the foot of her bed, curling into a ball at Adora’s legs, the way Catra used to sleep with Adora back when things weren’t so complicated.  _ How did they end up like this? _

“No, no, please..” Adora tussled about in the bed, pulling at Catra’s heartstrings. Without thinking, Catra reacted. She laid herself flat on the cold concrete beside Adora and tentatively placed her hand over Adora’s death grip on her pillow, mindful not to wake her. Adora’s brows furrowed upon the contact and-  _ crap, why did she do that? She shouldn’t even be here.  _ As Catra was about to take it all back she was suddenly wrapped in strong arms and pulled onto the bed, body against body. It took everything in her not to let out a gasp. In her sleep, Adora had clung onto Catra like a bolster. Foreheads touching, Catra could feel Adora’s hot breath on her face. They never slept like this before. Catra would never allow it. It was simply too dangerous. For a moment Catra was worried that Adora could hear her blood roaring and give herself away. She had screwed her eyes shut and held her breath, wishing her heart would just stop pounding so hard.

“Catra...i...need you…” Adora mumbled, holding Catra so, so softly. Wearily, Catra opened her eyes and  _ holy shit. _ Sure, she had stared at Adora a million times before but it was never so up close that she could count the faint freckles Adora insisted she didn’t have. ( _ “What? You can’t even see them! I think yours is prettier anyway!” Adora teases, intently studying Catra’s red face as she steps forward for a closer look. At a loss for words, Catra breaks and tackles her to the ground. “Annoying!” _ )

The slight tremor in her voice, the warmth of her enveloping embrace, Adora’s steady heartbeat and her erratic one-

Catra was coming apart. 

Her fingers ached to rub Adora’s worry lines away. _Did she cause that?_ Catra let herself lie in Adora’s warmth, drinking her in. _When was the last time they had just stayed in each others’ comfort like that?_ Not doing anything but just being in each others’ presence _._ It felt like a world ago. After internally agonizing with herself, Catra lets out a shaky breath of disbelief and defeat. _Screw it._ She lightly combed her fingers through Adora’s hair, palm cupping her cheek. It was something Catra had learned to do at night when Adora could not defend her weird obsession with her ponytail.

_ ("Catra!" Adora chuckled, somehow managing to catch Catra’s hand every time she tried to sneak up on Adora and thread her fingers through that stupidly soft hair.  _

_ “Wh- how do you even- I wasn’t doing anything!” Catra yelped, jumping a step back against the wall behind her. _

_ And with that look, that annoyingly perfect curve of her lips and a raised brow, Adora stilled all of Catra’s internal protests and ignited an uproar in her at the same time. She leaned into Catra, chocolate voice dipping an octave lower, "If you want to touch it that badly, just admit you like me, and they are alllll yours." _

_ Transfixed in those bright blue eyes, Catra’s breath hitched. She was about to combust. The space around them disappeared and there was suddenly not enough air. It was as if Catra was aimlessly floating in space all this while before she was sucked into Adora’s gravity, so impossible to look away that Catra never bothered to try.  _

_ Adora’s eyes widen at the shift in the atmosphere. Her playful features softened into that open, wistful look she always directed at Catra when she thought Catra wouldn’t notice. But Catra always paid attention when it came to Adora. Of course she did.  _

_ Adora’s face moved towards hers ever so slightly and Catra’s gaze instinctively fell onto her lips, betraying her carefully guarded heart. She was so close, too close.  _

_ “You’re such an idiot!” With a hard push to Adora’s shoulders and a smile that could mean anything or nothing at all, just like that, they were back to being best friends again, safe.) _

Tears streaked down Adora’s face, dampening Catra’s hand.

‘I’m sorry..' as gently as possible, Catra caught them with her lips before they could continue their lonely trail down her cheeks.

'I’m sorry..' with every whispered apology, Catra could only hope to chase her sadness away into the night. 

_ ~ _

Even back when Glimmer was fighting Catra, it was painfully obvious to anyone with eyes to see just how much Adora and Catra meant to each other. The Adora she knew had never slept well- ever. For the first few nights she spent in Bright Moon, she would refuse to even go close to the bed unless someone stood over her and made her. When Adora reluctantly came to Glimmer one day and asked to sleep in her bed, Glimmer never understood why. Even then, Adora would kick and thrash about before finally exhausting herself out, leaving Glimmer with perpetual bruises everywhere. Although she didn’t get it, Glimmer held out for her friend. 

Now as Glimmer stood over the two sleeping bodies, she smacked her face in realisation. Adora’s limbs were soundly intertwined with Catra’s, their slow breathing in time with each other in deep peaceful sleep.  _ UGH…How did Glimmer not notice this sooner? _ Adora wasn’t simply thrashing about in her sleep. She was restlessly searching for a certain cat-shaped person to hold on to, and she finally did.  _ The entire time they were at each other’s throats when it was like THAT all along... _ The answer was always so glaringly simple. Glimmer took a deep breath to calm herself.  _ She was going to kill the both of them.  _

“Soooo, what am I looking at here?” Bow spoke quietly, coming to stand beside her. His voice startled Glimmer a little. It had been a while since he had spoken directly to her ever since he began avoiding her. It made her stomach lurch. Naturally, her fingers start to reach for his but her heart soon caught up with her brain and she lets them drop to her side. 

“Something that should’ve happened a long time ago,” Glimmer sighed, hugging her arms to herself. 

“Do you think we should wake them?” He turned to face Glimmer directly, the spot between his eyebrows crinkling in familiar concern. Glimmer shot him a helpless smile.

“I think they deserve to stay like this for a little while.” Maybe Glimmer did understand after all.

**Author's Note:**

> hello! hope you enjoyed that chapter! I plan to keep 'halfway there' going for at least another chapter or two and along the way I may add a couple of one-shots to this collection as well. this is my first time fully committing to writing a fic and any and all comments are appreciated! btw I rarely if not never write angst without a happy ending at the very least bc we have all suffered enough, so please stay till the end! -rhyen


End file.
